Refreshed from a good nights sleep, and nourished by some excellent toast made from home made bread (not quite a full cooked veggie breakfast, but just delicious!) I packed the bike , bid farewell and thank you to my mum and dad and set off once again for another days riding.

In a far earlier blog you may recall I had a slight navigation nightmare when I cycled from my house to my mum and dads house in the summer of 2022.....and to prove I had learned the harsh lessons from this mis-adventure I took the correct road away from my mum and dads village heading east, again on the National Cycle Network route number 2 (and I will refer to this as NCN 2 from now on to save typing).

As I made my way out of the village of Burton Bradstock (close to the beach location of TV show Broadchurch) the chill early morning temperature and gentle breeze were ideal for cycling. Satnav five days in was on good form with the clearest of directions, Buble continued to be silently supportive and apart from a lack of brakes and a coating of mud and assorted grime from the previous 218.93 miles of the journey Red bike was also on good form.

Whilst I could try and paint some form of dramatic picture of this first part of the journey the highlight was seeing two deer in an adjacent field whilst climbing probably the last really disgustingly steep hill up to Hardy's monument. Once up at the top of this hill with glorious panoramic views across Dorset, the English channel and back to Devon I was able to feel a little relaxed that I wouldn't need to climb to this altitude again for a while.

Carefully descending from this point, cautious given the lack of brakes I then worked my way alongside Maiden Castle and on towards Wool / Winfrith and Corfe Castle. Between Wool and Corfe Castle cycling close to the MOD firing ranges I saw more red flags that cars, probably typical of the Purbecks as a whole. Away from the honey pot sites you have the chance of seeing no one!

The sun was just about out and whilst satnav and I had a running argument because she wanted to take me around the north side of Poole harbour, and I was keen to take the southern route from Corfe Castle around to Studland and I was working steadily through the remaining miles towards home.

After several days of climbing many hills between Lands End and this lovely part of the Purbecks, with excellent views north towards Poole Harbour, I was getting progressively slower with every hill I encountered. On one short but steep ascent I passed three female cyclists who had stopped to get photos of the view towards Poole harbour, probably using a very low gear (me) to get up the hill. Literally moments later all three were overtaking me on the next hill climb. Fit (ish) I might be, but they were making this particular hill look effortless!

I caught all three ladies up at the top of the hill, a well known car park area and view point, and the view over the harbour in the sunshine was amazing. They asked for my help to take a photo or two of the three of them and their bikes with the backdrop of Poole harbour / Poole bay and east Dorset beyond.  Even with limited camera skills I was able to help, and after a quick conversation about their cycle journey ( a quick 40 mile loop around Poole harbour) and my adventure from Lands End they very kindly offered to return the favour taking some photos of me with the harbour as a backdrop.

Photos taken they said they'd probably see me at the chain ferry as they set off towards Studland. I took a look at the photos of me that they had taken, and whilst I might not be the most photogenic model I had somehow managed to ruin all the photos by looking as out of breath and red in the cheeks as possible, the colour of my face matching the bright red cycling top I was wearing!

Needless to say that I did not catch them up even wind assisted down hill towards the chain ferry crossing over the harbour entrance, but once sat on the ferry enjoying some lunch I was back on very familiar turf. As I carefully rode off the ferry and made my way around the one way road system at Sandbanks I knew that I was less than an hour from home, and most of this ride was going to be level either around the harbour road or the promenade between Shore Road in Poole and Bournemouth Pier approach.

Not sure that I have referenced the day of the week for any of these blog posts, but this leg of the journey took place on the last Sunday of March 2023. As I slowly and carefully cycled along the Poole and Bournemouth seafront I encountered more people than I had seen in the previous 260 miles I'd ridden, and the noise and activity was a shock to the system.

Great to see the beach so well used (its where I work and I'm always a fan of people making use of these award winning beaches), and from very familiar territory near Bournemouth Pier , close to the office I work in normally, I made my way for the last 8 miles of the cycle on my normal daily commute route to Christchurch.

The roads through Bournemouth and Christchurch were relatively quiet (I guess everyone was at the beach!) and these last few miles in the saddle were almost completed on autopilot. Whilst I have made every effort to enjoy every time I cycle by trying to soak up the here and now, living in the moment etc as I got closer to home I began to reflect that I really, really wanted to see my wife Jan. I'd been thinking this for the previous 275 miles of course, but this was foremost in my thoughts over the last 30 minutes on the bike.

So distracted by thinking of seeing Jan again it came as a total shock to finally cycle into the cul-de-sac where I live to be greeted by a number of my neighbours and Jan applauding my return. Of course by the power of Strava Jan had a very clear idea in real time where I was, and as I got closer had coordinated a welcoming committee which really was the perfect ending to the ride.

57.1 miles of riding on the last day meant a total 276.03 miles of cycling from the train station at Penzance to Lands End and then home over four and a bit days. I'd also climbed 5749 metres of elevation, or 64.96% of Mount Everest. Calories consumed - who knows, but its likely to be around 4000 per full day of cycling, made up of a number of excellent flapjacks and other cakes, some excellent breakfasts and other really nice food.

As I packed the bike away and unloaded my bags I was so happy to be home, so happy to have completed the adventure and so looking forward to what I was planning to do next. Time to relax, recover and after a brief pause plan the next cycling journey.